In addition to its loveable band of losers, the original
Guardians of the Galaxy film owes a large part of the success to its fantastic soundtrack,
Awesome Mix, Vol. 1.
The sequel's soundtrack,
Vol. 2, is shaping up to be just as "awesome", with songs from groups such as Sweet, Fleetwood Mac, and Jay and the Americans, just to name a few. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Screen Rant that music plays a much more important role in the story in the upcoming film; not only will some songs factor into the plot, but it seems that Peter Quill's penchant for catchy tunes has caught on with some of his teammates, specifically Groot.
"[The music] is all off the tape. It’s all off of Volume 2," said Feige.
"I would say that the other Guardians now know that music is a thing for Peter, so in early scenes, what you see baby Groot here - which he’s just ‘Groot’ in the movie, but on set we call him baby Groot - he’s setting up these little outer space speakers so that the music can play for all of them, because Quill likes to hear music when he’s fighting. So, it does go to more than just his headset, but it’s all based off of Volume 2. And I would say that a couple of the songs, and particularly one song has very unique lyrics that play in much more specific part into the plot, than any song did in the first film."
As for the mischievous Groot, James Gunn told Screen Rant that the miniscule version of the character was much easier to tackle than his adult counterpart for the sequel.
"Quite honestly, I’d say baby Groot [was easier], but the reason for that is unknown. A lot of times on the first movie we were like 'are we even putting Groot in this movie?' Because Sean [Gunn] plays Rocket on set, and he’s so present as Rocket that you’re very aware of Rocket as a character. The guy playing Groot was a stand-in on the last movie and so he was there we just kind of always forgot he was there. He doesn’t talk very much, so you’re doing all these scenes and when we have the scenes in the movie where they turn to Groot and Groot’s like 'why are you forgetting me?' That’s really what we felt like while we were shooting the first film. And I think also, the whole personality of Groot and who he was, it was there on the page and then you forget about it while you were shooting the first movie. But now everyone knows Groot so well that we have a much larger awareness, me and the cast, of a baby Groot being there at all times."
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mix Vol. 2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.